Feature2024
The Once and Future Smash
Director · Writer · Producer
A horror mockumentary exploring the legacy of a supposed cult slasher and the two men who played its masked killer.
View project ↗FILM · MUSIC · WRITING · SCIENCE
Michael J. Epstein
Films, music, stories, and other questionable experiments.
Award-losing filmmaker, writer, musician, and scientist. With Launch Over, I make theme-driven genre films and collaborate frequently with Sophia Cacciola.
27Selected film projects
09Music & recording entries
18Screenplay listings
100Links to original blog posts
SELECTED WORK
Stories in several mediums
Feature2024 release
End Zone 2
Creator · Filmmaker
A deliberately faux-lost slasher that connects to the world of The Once and Future Smash.
View project ↗Anthology2026
Final Transmissions: You Were Never Alone
Writer · Director
An analog found-footage horror story, made with Sophia Cacciola for the Final Transmissions anthology.
View project ↗FROM THE BLOG
Recent posts · read on the original blog
Michael J. Epstein stars in horror short The Ringing (opens in a new tab)
On the original Sophia & Michael blog ↗
Sophia Cacciola’s The Prisoner essay is published in Half a Dozen of the Other – It Means What It Says: Volume Three (opens in a new tab)
On the original Sophia & Michael blog ↗
Michael faces tough horror ??? on Captain Bumout’s Gate to Hell (opens in a new tab)
On the original Sophia & Michael blog ↗
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Where to watch
Final Transmissions — Nightmare in the Ozarks
The analog-horror anthology featuring You Were Never Alone screens during the October 21–24 festival in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Check the official program for the exact screening slot.
More information ↗ (opens in a new tab)The Ringing — Los Angeles Fantasy Fest
The Ringing plays in Dark Futures at The Cat’s Crawl on Friday, November 20, and Strange Worlds at Skiptown Playhouse on Saturday, November 21. All times Pacific.
More information ↗ (opens in a new tab)Stay connected